Design-Model-Build - American Library Association

Design-Model-Build: Leveraging
a Library Remodeling Project to
Engage Students and Promote
Sustainability on Campus
Luke Leither
Introduction
requiring them to consider visitor sightlines and seasonal lighting differently than they would for traditional outdoor areas.
Currently in the midst of the second phase of
the project, Design-Model-Build has three primary
goals: providing an excellent and unique learning experience for our students, developing designs that are
functional as well as aesthetically pleasing, and incorporating sustainable materials and green walls into
the existing plans.
This paper will explore the current academic environment in the US and at the University of Utah
that encourages collaborations like ours to take place.
The paper will also describe the project in depth and
share some of the lessons that have been learned along
the way.
Design-Model-Build is a collaborative project at the
University of Utah between the Marriott Library’s art
and architecture librarian and a faculty member at
the university’s School of Architecture. The collaboration, which began in Fall 2014, provides architecture
students with a hands-on learning experience while
providing the library with innovative designs for an
internal remodeling project. Working together with
library clients, professional architects, fabricators, and
landscape designers; the architecture students are exposed to every aspect of the planning, designing, and
building process. Additionally, students have been
continuously exposed to library resources including
books, journals, design software, 3-d printing, and the
library’s new materials collection.
The remodeling project itself will give purpose to
a currently unused patio and courtyard that is adjacent to the Marriott Library’s K.W. Dumke Fine Art
and Architecture Library. The plans call for the space
to serve as a sustainable study area and sculpture garden, allowing patrons to enjoy the outdoors while still
working within the confines of the library. The multilevel space is located below ground level in a lightwell
that is enclosed within the library structure (see figures 1 and 2). The subterranean aspect of the project
adds an interesting design challenge for the students,
The Creative Campus and “Signature
Experiences”
For years there have been discussions amongst university administrators, faculty, and students about the
advantages of a “creative campus.”1 While no formal
definition seems to exist, these campus initiatives encourage programs to incorporate creativity into their
teaching, outcomes, and assessments. According to
Lingo and Tepper, universities are tapping into recent research suggesting that creative thinking can be
Luke Leither is Art and Architecture Librarian, University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, e-mail: [email protected]
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175
FIGURE 1
Photograph of Northern End of Unused Patio
FIGURE 2
Photograph of Patio and Lower Courtyard
March 25–28, 2015, Portland, Oregon
Luke Leither
176
taught and is not simply an inherent ability possessed
by a few blessed individuals. “Idea generation, improvisation, metaphorical and analogical reasoning, divergent thinking” and other skills can be encouraged
in the classroom and harnessed to prepare students
for careers that demand creative people.2
Colleges and universities have recognized the
trend around the country and incorporated creativity
into their curricula and into the culture of their campuses. They have developed interdisciplinary programs, creativity centers, and campus-wide events
to show their support. Even when these types of initiatives are not present, students are finding ways to
subvert or overcome the traditional paradigm. For
example, Pitt and Tepper, in a multi-year study on
how students choose their majors, have found that
students will often double major to gain an alternative way of thinking and deepen their creative skillset.3
The University of Utah has not been immune to
this trend and, in fact, has recently developed several
programs to embrace it. The Multi-Disciplinary Design program, started in 2011, combines instructors
from design, engineering, business, and psychology to
“ethically respond to the needs of people and the environment using a creative process based approach.”4
Experiential learning courses like the new BlockU
program teams together faculty from different disciplines to teach around themes like “Art and Science”
or “Water and Sustainability.” These courses develop
“learning communities” to provide students a look at
how varying disciplines approach the same topic, theoretically encouraging them to tackle problems from
a variety of angles.5 Additionally, new centers and living communities are being built around campus. A
notable example of this is the soon-to-be Lassonde
Center, advertised as the new “home for student entrepreneurs and innovators” to “Live.Create.Launch.”6
Many of our new initiatives, centers, and programs address a promise made by the university’s
president, David Pershing, that every undergraduate
will have a “signature experience” before graduating.7
This could mean they will do research in the lab of a
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scientist, take part in a student dance performance,
design a new piece of hospital equipment, or help
build a new house for a family in need. Students are
encouraged to apply their education in real-life situations and take advantage of all the opportunity that is
at their fingertips. The University of Utah is responding to the demands of students and faculty to push beyond traditional pedagogical practice and is working
to develop more sophisticated and nuanced learning
environments.
With all these changes, librarians and libraries
are also confronted with the same ultimatum facing
the larger university: change or become irrelevant.
How do librarians address and encourage creative
thinking and active learning while still maintaining
core values (e.g. building/maintaining collections,
freedom of information, service, etc.)? Fortunately,
many of us have not been caught unaware by these
changes and have been discussing and experimenting along the way. In fact, academic libraries are
well suited to embrace a movement toward flexible,
collaborative spaces. Makerspaces, visualization
studios, and gaming labs have been established in
many university libraries around the country with
great success.8 The discipline-agnostic nature of the
library allows a diverse set of users into these spaces to create and experiment with technologies that
would have otherwise been sequestered away in departments.
The Marriott Library has kept ahead of the curve
on many of these issues. 3d printing services are accessible to all patrons of the library, small and large
study rooms have been built to encourage serendipitous collaboration, and new software and hardware is
continually being evaluated and purchased for patron
use. Additionally, the library houses a fully functional
sound and video studio and uses the equipment to
disseminate sponsored talks and conferences that are
held in the building.
However, providing space to collaborate and
hardware to experiment with is not the only way librarians at the Marriott Library have found to foster
student creativity and ingenuity.
Design-Model-Build
The Need
Like many university libraries, the Marriott Library is
frequently undergoing small to medium-sized facility
changes to accommodate new demands from students
and faculty. Collections are rearranged, new rooms
are built or remodeled, and spaces are repurposed
when the need arises. In 2012, serious consideration
was directed at an unused patio space attached to the
fine art and architecture library. This small library is
located on the second level of the larger facility and
houses a small subset of the art, architecture, and music books along with student workstations, a reference
collection, and current magazines. The attached patio,
located in an internal lightwell, has been closed off to
patron and library staff since the building was remodeled in 2009. Concerns about damage to collections
and a campus restriction on increasing the building
footprint/occupancy led the library administration
to keep the area off limits. However, now the campus
has loosened its restrictions and the fear that patrons
might easily steal or damage our books in an outdoor
venue has waned. The time seems right to open the
doors and create another unique venue for study and
collaboration.
However, it is never as easy as simply opening the
doors and buying a few chairs and tables from Ikea.
From the beginning it was clear that at least some
remodeling needed to be done. Doors needed to be
replaced, bird droppings needed to be cleaned (no
small task), floors needed to be grinded and refinished, electrical outlets needed to be installed, etc. To
accomplish this, we needed to hire an architect and
set aside a budget. We also needed to have a clear vision for the space and a plan in place to make sure our
goals were met.
The Vision
We developed the current vision for the space over the
course of many months but the heart of the project
remains much the same as it was when we began discussions in 2012. We wanted a space that:
1. Encouraged practicing artists and architects
to visit and feel connected.
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2. Embraced sustainability and green building
practices.
3. Supported the overall mission of the library
and the university.
Art and architecture librarians have long struggled to entice studio artists and architects to use library resources and spaces.9 The explanations for this
are many, but one of the basic reasons may be that
their academic output is not well represented in library collections. We have books and databases that
show examples of artistic works, but the objects themselves are often displayed in galleries, museums, and
classrooms. Therefore, one goal of this space was to
give artists an area to display their academic work.
Specifically, we wanted the ability to exhibit threedimensional objects, projections, and performance
pieces. The Marriott Library already has extensive
wall space for hanging two-dimensional pieces and
the addition of an area dedicated to sculpture and
performance provides a more complete set of venues
for our students.
In addition to exhibition spaces, we focused on
the concept of sustainability for this project. The space
itself is a natural-light area with furnishings to be built
with sustainable materials. We wanted to seek out materials like beetle-kill wood and recycled steel from
which to fabricate, and this is where we began to see
an opportunity to partner with our architecture students and faculty. The university’s School of Architecture has successfully embraced a hands-on approach
to instruction called design-build starting with a
program called DesignBluffBuild.10 DesignBluffBuild
sends graduate students into the Navajo community
in southern Utah to design and build structures in
collaboration with the residents. The students and
faculty involved have produced unique designs, often
with recycled or repurposed materials like those we
were interested in.
Design-build programs, including DesignBluffBuild, have proven popular with students and yielded many innovative designs and projects around the
US.11 We wanted to include the innovative thinking
and enthusiasm of our students in our project and
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Luke Leither
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knew that it could be done based on the success of
other design-build initiatives. We also knew that
many of our students and faculty had strong interest
in sustainable design and could act as advisors and
advocates along the way. Finally, we saw this as a way
the library could support and be a part of President
Pershing’s pledge to provide “signature experiences”
to our undergraduates.
To accomplish our goals, we partnered with Erin
Carraher, an exceptional faculty member in the school
of architecture, and tasked her first-year architecture
studio class with the design, modeling, and fabrication of furnishings for the new study and art-exhibition space. Furnishings included tables and chairs for
study, permanent and moveable pedestals for public
art, and moveable “living walls” for lowlight plants.
With the inclusion of the architecture program
into our process, we extended the sustainability of
the project beyond materials and into manpower. We
were “locally sourcing” our talent and investing in our
students by inviting them to be partners in our vision.
Design-Build
The first weeks of our design process included working with a professional architecture firm on the overall
design for the space while at the same time working
with the students on their designs for the furniture,
art displays, and green walls. In those first days of the
project we did not have funding for anything but design, nor any promise that money would come in the
future. The library administration was incredibly supportive but internal funding was not a possibility. We
needed to fundraise if the remodel were to ever actually occur.
Despite lack of funding for the overall project, we
decided to proceed with the students and even have
them build full-scale prototypes for the space. We
assumed that money would eventually come and we
could store the built furniture even if the patio wasn’t
open after fabrication. We pitched the idea to the students, hired 2 fabricators as consultants to them, and
developed the following plan for the course of the Fall
2014 semester:
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1. Design Research: Students will study from
print and digital library resources provided
by the fine art and architecture library. The
resources will focus on sustainable design,
public art display, institutional design, and
furniture design.
2. Design Concept: Students will design using
Rhinoceros 3d software already purchased
by the Marriott Library.
a. Designs to be evaluated by the instructor
and the librarian. Several will be selected
to move to Phase 3.
3. Design Development: Student groups will
develop and build full-scale prototypes for
their proposals in consultation with professional fabricators. Fabricators have already
been selected and hired based on previous
experience with museum installations and
product fabrication.
a. Mid review: designs will be evaluated by
the fabricator for feasibility, by architecture jurors for design intent, and by the
library professionals for client needs.
b. Final review: a formal review to give
students feedback regarding designs.
Selected designs to move on to Phase 4.
4. Design Documentation: Selected designs
will be printed in the 3d printer and combined with presentation boards for display.
a. Models will be used by the library selection group for approval of final designs.
5. Fabrication and Evaluation: Approved designs will go to the fabricator under instructor and student supervision.
a. Completed designs will be evaluated
through a student satisfaction survey.
While we stuck to this plan as closely as we could,
circumstances did force us to make some significant
changes midway through. For example, the transition
from Design Development to Design Documentation did not include us selecting just a few designs to
proceed as originally planned. From the beginning
the class had been divided into eight groups all work-
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ing on their own solutions to the design problem. We
decided to allow all eight to continue refining their
designs through to the end of the project. Additionally, only a few groups found it useful to use our 3d
printer to build their models. Most built out of wood
and metal to more closely replicate the forms the final
products would eventually take.
While the students were working on their end of
the project, we were attempting to find funding from
multiple sources. We applied for grants from LSTA
and the university as well as worked with our development director to find donors who might be interested
in sponsoring us. Eventually, the University of Utah
awarded us a small grant to help proceed with fabrication and a private donor agreed to pay for the larger
remodel. It was, in large part, our work on DesignModel-Build that secured for us the funding we would
need. In fact, because of the financial windfall and the
interest of our donor, we were able to expand our vision of the space to include the lower-level courtyard
as well as a plan to partially enclose the upper-level
patio to make it usable year round.
Throughout the students’ designing process we
remained heavily engaged. There were three design
reviews throughout the course of the semester and a
group from the library attended them all as clients.
The library group consisted of two art librarians, our
director of facilities, and our Associate Dean of Research and Learning. Through those meetings we were
able to give specific feedback to the student groups,
allowing them to better understand what we needed
and expected from them. The change in quality and
sophistication that happened over the course of the
semester was staggering. Students developed incredible ways to program the space using design elements
like plug-and-play green walls, customized furniture,
and innovative flooring and canopy systems. They derived concepts from precedents found using library
materials with guidance from the librarian and teaching faculty. By the end of the process the students had
shown us entirely new ways to think about the project
and made it clear we would build something truly remarkable.
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Assessment
We chose to evaluate the success of this program by
administering anonymous course surveys at the beginning and end of the first semester (See appendices
A and B). Using a 1-5 Likert Scale, we asked students
to rate their confidence in multiple areas including
use of 3d modeling software, use of 3d printing technologies, use of Marriott Library resources, and understanding and meeting the needs of real-world customers. For all these measures the students reported
improvement with the exception of feeling confident
they could meet the needs of real-world customers.
This exception could be an artifact of a smaller response rate in the second survey, or could represent a
true feeling of unease on the students’ part. They were
exposed to a difficult architectural problem very early
in their academic career and then were asked to make
compromises and changes that they didn’t expect.
With such a complex architectural project to work on,
the students were forced to face the limitation of their
knowledge and expertise.
We posed open-ended questions as well as those
using the Likert scale. For example, we asked what
they hoped to learn in the beginning and then what
they actually learned at the end. The results were,
again, overwhelmingly positive. Answers like this
were the norm: “I’ve learned about what all is needed and required to meet real project standards. Such
as budgeting for materials, learning new programs,
meeting the needs of a space through creative design,
and how to be interactive with your client.”12
Next Steps
Since the project had grown in scope since we first
discussed the idea with our students, many of the
designs ended up no longer fitting the needs of the
space. The plan to partially enclose the patio would,
in particular, interfere with many of the student concepts. We therefore decided not to proceed with full
fabrication and instead developed a second phase for
the project to include the new building plans.
For the second phase we have hand selected a
group of students to continue with us to create the fi-
March 25–28, 2015, Portland, Oregon
Luke Leither
180
nal designs for furniture, art displays, and green walls.
Over the course of the 2015 Spring semester, these
eight students will work with us, the architects, and
campus planning to bring their ideas to fruition. They
are all being paid for their work and have been asked,
again, to focus on sustainability for the duration. This
effort is being aided by our recent acquisition of a materials collection via the company Material ConneXion. Through this collection students have access to an
extensive online database of materials to inform their
decisions and meet cost expectations. This acquisition
was made possible through the same donation that is
funding the remodel.
Now nearing the end of Spring semester, the students have gained additional mastery over the skills of
their profession, they have made important contacts
and had productive interaction with professionals in
their field, and have directly influenced the design
of our new space. The students that worked with us
through this next phase have expressed a strong desire
to have a lasting impact on their library and university. Through this project they are well on their way to
reaching their goal.
Conclusion
Design-Model-Build has enabled us to fully realize
our sustainable sculpture garden and study space.
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It has brought us full funding and stunning designs
for our project while helping to form new professional relationships across departments. We have
provided our students with a unique learning experience that they can carry forward into their professional career. The library will have a space that
embraces our ideals of sustainability and innovative
design inspired directly by our patrons. Administrations from around campus have been impressed
with the work that has been accomplished and the
passion it has inspired.
This collaboration will hopefully open new doors
for students at the University of Utah. Professor Carraher and I have created a precedent on our campus
that could make it easier for future students to take an
active role in the university’s building projects. This
was the final goal of Design-Model-Build. The university campus, much like the library, is constantly
changing and updating according to the demands
of the community. Up to this point, our architects in
training have not been exposed to the university’s design process nor have they been tapped as a source
for new ideas. My hope is that with this example the
Marriott Library and the University of Utah will fully
embrace the “creative campus” ideal and begin to view
the entire campus as a sandbox for student innovation
and experimentation.
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181
Appendix A. Course survey administered at
the beginning of Fall 2014 semester
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Appendix B. Course survey administered at
the end of Fall 2014 semester
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Design-Model-Build
Notes
1. For an excellent summary and commentary on creative
campuses see Elizabeth Lingo and Steven Tepper, “The
Creative Campus: Time for a “C” Change,” The Chronicle of
Higher Education, last modified October 10, 2010, accessed
February 14, 2015, http://chronicle.com/article/The-Creative-Campus-Time-for/124860/.
2. Ibid.
3. Richard Pitt and Steven Tepper, Double Majors: Influences,
Identities, & Impacts, Curb Center Report (Nashville, TN:
Vanderbilt University, 2012), 39.
4. “Multi-Disciplinary Design Homepage,” University of Utah,
accessed February 15, 2015, http://design.utah.edu/.
5. “BlockU Homepage,” University of Utah, accessed February
13, 2015, http://ugs.utah.edu/blocku/.
6. “Lassonde Center Homepage,” University of Utah, accessed
February 15, 2015, http://lassonde.utah.edu/.
7. David Pershing, “President Pershing’s Agenda for the U:
The Inaugural Address,” audio file, University of Utah, 2012,
accessed February 14, 2015, http://admin.utah.edu/office_
of_the_president/inauguration-recap.
8. For more information and examples of makerspaces in
libraries see Tod Colegrove, “Editorial Board Thoughts:
Libraries as Makerspace?,”Information Technology & Libraries 32, no. 1 (March 2013) and Josh Boyer, “Visualizing and
Making at NC State’s Hunt Library,” speech presented at
The Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship Colloquium:
Pedagogy and Practices, Kelvin Smith Library, Cleveland,
OH, November 6, 2014, video file, YouTube, accessed February 14, 2015, http://youtu.be/ef4k8h9ZR2A.
9. For excellent summaries of the literature and further explorations on this subject see Hannah Bennett, “Bringing the
Studio into the Library: Addressing the Research Needs of
Studio Art and Architecture Students,” Art Documentation:
Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 25, no.
1 (2006) and Kasia Leousis, “Outreach to Artists: Supporting the Development of a Research Culture for Master of
Fine Arts Students,” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art
Libraries Society of North America 32, no. 1 (2013).
10. To see examples of real-world DesignBuild projects from
the perspective of the instructors who started them, including Hank Louis’ DesignBluffBuild, see Steve Badanes,
Thomas Dutton, David Lewis, and Hank Louis, “Teaching by Example,” interview by David Sokol, Architectural
Record 186, no. 10 (October 2008).
11. See V. B. Canizaro, “Design-Build in Architectural Education: Motivations, Practices, Challenges, Successes and Failures,” Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural
Research 6, no. 3 (2012) and Jonathan Foote, “Design-Build
:: Build-Design,” Journal of Architectural Education 65, no. 2
(2012).
12. Anonymous Student, “Course Evaluation” (unpublished raw
data, University of Utah, 2014).
183
Bennett, Hannah. “Bringing the Studio into the Library: Addressing the Research Needs of Studio Art and Architecture
Students.” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries
Society of North America 25, no. 1 (2006): 38-42. Boyer, Josh. “Visualizing and Making at NC State’s Hunt Library.”
Speech presented at The Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship Colloquium: Pedagogy and Practices, Kelvin Smith Library, Cleveland,
OH, November 6, 2014. Video file. YouTube. Accessed February 14, 2015.
http://youtu.be/ ef4k8h9ZR2A. Canizaro, V. B. “Design-Build in Architectural Education:
Motivations, Practices, Challenges, Successes and Failures.”
Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research
6, no. 3 (2012): 20-36. Colegrove, Tod. “Editorial Board Thoughts: Libraries as Makerspace?” Information Technology & Libraries 32, no. 1 (March
2013): 2-5.
“Course Evaluation.” Unpublished raw data, University of Utah,
2014.
Foote, Jonathan. “Design-Build :: Build-Design.” Journal of Architectural Education 65, no. 2 (2012): 52-58.
Leousis, Kasia. “Outreach to Artists: Supporting the Development of a Research Culture for Master of Fine Arts
Students.” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries
Society of North America 32, no. 1 (2013): 127-37.
Lingo, Elizabeth, and Steven Tepper. “The Creative Campus:
Time for a “C” Change.” The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Last modified October 10, 2010. Accessed February 14,
2015. http://chronicle.com/article/The-Creative-CampusTime-for/124860/.
Pershing, David. “President Pershing’s Agenda for the U: The
Inaugural Address.” Audio file. University of Utah. 2012.
Accessed February 14, 2015. http://admin.utah.edu/office_of_the_president/inauguration-recap.
Pitt, Richard, and Steven Tepper. Double Majors: Influences,
Identities, & Impacts. Curb Center Report. Nashville, TN:
Vanderbilt University, 2012.
Salama, Ashraf. “Delivering Theory Courses in Architecture:
Inquiry Based, Active, and Experiential Learning Integrated.” ArchNet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural
Research 4 (2010): 278-95.
University of Utah. “BlockU Homepage.” Blocku: Helping You
Build Your Future. Accessed February 13, 2015. http://ugs.
utah.edu/blocku/.
———. Lassonde Center Homepage. Lassonde Center at the
University of Utah. Accessed February 15, 2015. http://lassonde.utah.edu/.
———. “The Multi-Disciplinary Design Program Homepage.”
Multi-Disciplinary Design Program. Accessed February 15,
2015. http://design.utah.edu/.
Bibliography
Badanes, Steve, Thomas Dutton, David Lewis, and Hank Louis.
“Teaching by Example.” Interview by David Sokol. Architectural Record 186, no. 10 (October 2008): 120. March 25–28, 2015, Portland, Oregon